In recent months, there's been a wee bit of mystery around Roberta Bondar Place.
About one year ago, Gundar Robez's Paper Chase, an 18-year-old site-specific architectural installation (shown), was removed, ostensibly for cleaning.
This year, Bondar Place staffers started to wonder where the neon-lit translucent plastic sheets had gone, and why they had not been reinstalled. They weren't able to get much of an answer from the building managers.
So SooToday.com set out to track down the much-loved panels.
For more than 20 years, Gundar Robez was world-famous as one of Canada's finest glass artists.
The installation of Paper Chase began at Roberta Bondar Place in December, 1991.
"The fabrication of the units took one year, with an additional three months required for installation," says a promotional sheet written by Michael Burtch and provided to SooToday.com by Bill Powell of Tiger Group, a collective of Hamilton artists Robez helped to found in 1974.
"Working on the installation at night, when the building was vacant except for cleaning and security staff, Robez had to employ an 80-foot telescopic arm lift, a cherry picker, controlled from the bucket," Burtch wrote.
Today, the colourful installation no longer shines its warm glow through the Roberta Bondar Place galleria.
All 122 pieces of seven-foot translucent plastic that sandwiched softly glowing neon tubes in electric hues have been carefully taken down and stored.
The 900-pound-test aircraft cables that suspended those pieces from welded steel forms have been safely coiled and likewise stored in a secure facility, as have the forms.
The work had to be placed in storage, says Jeff Giffen, corporate communications advisor at Ontario Realty Corporation.
"In 2008, health and safety concerns were expressed about the installation," Giffen says. "Pieces were coming loose and electrical components were no longer working to code."
The Ontario Realty Corporation manages properties like Roberta Bondar Place, which is owned by the Ontario government.
Art installations within these buildings, including Paper Chase, are Ontario government property.
When it was determined that Paper Chase needed repairs, the Ministry of Government Services commissioned a study to determine the feasibility and cost of such an undertaking.
"The Archives of Ontario does not have a current cost for repairs, but given the complexity of the art work, it would appear that repairs would be costly and time-consuming," says Michael Patton, spokesman for the Ministry of Government Services. "No decision has been made yet regarding restoration and re-installation of this item."
So last year, Paper Chase was professionally disassembled.
It now rests somewhere safe and secure, waiting until funding becomes available to return it to its once-glorious place in the sun-drenched galleria of Roberta Bondar Place.
The striking and monumental installation is missed by more than a few who work in the building.
They wonder where it is and whether it will ever be brought home where it belongs.
Gundar Robez did not live to see the disassembling of his modern glass masterpiece.
On January 20, 2005, at the age of 52, Robez succumbed to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig's disease.